Fr. Benedict Groeschel Blames Victims for Seducing Priests

SNAP Wisconsin
August 30, 2012

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Almost twenty five years ago Archbishop Rembert Weakland declared that some adolescent victims of sexual assault were not “so innocent”. Weakland elaborated by saying that some adolescents “can be sexually very active and aggressive and often quite street-wise”.

Fast forward a quarter of a century later and well known Catholic priest Fr. Benedict Groeschel offers this piece of wisdom concerning the clergy sexual assault crisis that continues to plague the church:

“Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him…A lot of the cases, the youngster – 14, 16, or 18 is the seducer”. Groeschel added that all of this was understandable “Well it’s not so hard to see, a kid looking for a father and didn’t have his own, and they won’t be planning to get into heavy duty sex, but almost romantic, embracing, kissing, perhaps sleeping, but not having intercourse or anything like that”.

Groeschel provided his insights to the National Catholic Register in a lengthy interview which has since been removed from the publications website. Groeschel leads the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, a religious order headquartered in the Archdiocese of New York under Cardinal Dolan’s supervision. Groeschel also hosts his own television program which can be seen on EWTN.

In the interview Groeschel proceeded to offer his observations on the sexual assault scandal at Penn State University. He stated “Here’s this poor guy Sandusky, it went on for years. Interesting: why didn’t anyone say anything? Apparently a number of kids knew about it and didn’t break the ice. Well you know, until recent years people did not register in their minds that it was a crime. It was a moral failure, scandalous; but they didn’t think of it in terms of legal things”.

Groeschel is an influential member of the clergy who holds a doctorate in psychology from Columbia University and is a professor of pastoral psychology at St. Joseph’s Seminary which prepares candidates for the priesthood in the Archdiocese of New York.

Groeschel is not the only church official who has told the public how they really feel about the sexual assault of children in the Catholic Church. In February of this year Cardinal Eagan stated that he regretted apologizing for the abuse of children in the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut and the Archdiocese of New York. Eagan proclaimed “I never should have said that…I don’t think we did anything wrong”.

In the Archdiocese of Milwaukee the Vicar General Fr. William Kohler informed the parishioners of St. John Neumann in Waukesha Wisconsin that their pastor was being removed due to reports of child sexual assault. He explained that his removal was necessary because “We will pay for it [if we don’t remove Schreiter], we will pay in the court of public opinion, you know that the victims have lawyers and you know they are watching us. You watch television; you see the kinds of things they say about the church on the courthouse steps. You don’t want that kind of antic used against you”.

The comments of senior churchmen such as Groeschel, Eagan, and Kohler are not only unfortunate and insensitive, they are dangerous. They minimize the crime of child sexual assault and give permission for others to do the same. Children will continue to be placed at risk for abuse as long as these beliefs are accepted and left unchallenged by church officials and the community.